Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Christopher McDonald on September 29, 2011 at 7:01pm

Maybe the Cornell Chevrolet building is still vacant, it's at 3050 Douglas st.

 

Sorry I missed the meeting, I'll be at the next one.

Permalink Reply by Alan Smith on October 7, 2011 at 11:56pm

Who owns that building anyone know? that would be a SWEET location!!!! and we could have lunch at Denny's lol

 

Permalink Reply by Loren Greig on September 30, 2011 at 11:35pm

Rock Bay Landing are really excited about the Help Portrait project and would love to have us there. It's a new building, spacious, clean and welcoming. They have two spaces we can use for photo stations, a community room and education room. This facility is on Ellice Street and the entire homeless community knows how to get there. Tons of street parking on Saturdays.

 

This is what they have:

1)  Large community room for 3-5 photo stations (waiting for dimensions; my guess the whole space is 1500-2000 square feet with 9' ceilings); room dividers would section off the space we need 

2)  Education room for additional photo stations (12' X 24')

3)  Hair dressing salon - room for 2 stylists and 1 makeup artist

4)  Nurses station - additional room that could also be used for hair and makeup

5)  Room adjoining community room - long counter for 4-editing stations, printers

6)  Clean washrooms in editing room; community washrooms 

7)  Possibility of extra volunteers from shelter staff

 

 

 

 

 

Attachments:

• common-room-1.jpg, 247 KB
• editing-work-counter.jpg, 297 KB
• hair-and-makeup.jpg, 273 KB

Permalink Reply by Alan Smith on October 7, 2011 at 11:53pm

Loren I went and looked at the space today and it looks fabulous but the only problem is that they have a big food thing every Saturday that will make it packed and the lady said you probably don't want to bring kids around there with the clientele they have (she was sort of surprised that I brought my kids down.

Permalink Reply by Loren Greig on October 8, 2011 at 1:40pm

Hi Alan,

Yay, so great you went down... the space is fabulous for us and for the people we want to reach, who are mostly there.

I'm certain we can get everything worked out to accommodate everyone's needs. Two of the Directors really want us there... "it fits in perfectly with what (they) do" was the comment. I envision getting 2/3 of the downstairs community room; the other 1/3 will be partitioned off for people to lounge.

Lunch is served upstairs in the cafeteria; the stairs to it are outside of the room we use, so that traffic wouldn't be moving through the shooting site. The education room upstairs is next to the cafeteria.

I've already put in a request to accommodate children and families and they believe an allowance will be made for that day so children can be present. However, if there is an objection, there's the Burnside-Gorge Community Association close by that they suggested we use for families and children; so, we can shoot at two locations if we have to. There are also other options.

I've connected through the channels of the Cool Aid Society; they own the building.

I'll keep on it to get the logistics worked out and hope to have some clear answers by the end of next week. Would love to get the location confirmed so we can get started on the PR.

 

Permalink Reply by Loren Greig on October 17, 2011 at 12:25pm

Still waiting on a reply and approval from Rock Bay Landing.... I've been following up every couple of days or so and Sarah commits to getting back to me with an answer but she doesn't follow through... I've left a message today with the Shelter Manager and hopefully we will get some reply this afternoon.

 

Permalink Reply by Alan Smith on October 20, 2011 at 11:52am

Loren thanks so much for your work on this I think the space would be great if we can get it.

Permalink Reply by Loren Greig on October 21, 2011 at 2:54pm

Hi Alan,

Let's move on to finding another location. I have put in a lot of time and effort with CoolAid and Sarah's many promises to follow up with information and confirmation; however, she has not followed through on even one. They've handled this in a very, very unprofessional manner and I'm really puzzled by it. However, it's time to stop chasing them and find another shooting space. Soooo, there's another space at The Salvation Army on Wharf and Johnson... seats 60-70 people; no cathedral ceilings... 9' only... has a direct entrance off Wharf Street; liability is for adults but the Manager believes they can get a waiver for the day so children can be present. He just needs to file the paperwork. We will be viewing it on Monday. 

 

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Loren Greig on October 29, 2011 at 3:35pm

Hi Everyone, 

I just want to keep you all updated with the information that's been coming to me and what's been happening from my end regarding the shooting space... got official confirmation on Friday for The Salvation Army Chapel - from 8:00am on December 10. We're covered for the 9:00PM closing time that was set at Thursday's meeting.

Children: SA houses a federal rehabilitation centre. There's no access beyond the lobby for non-residents. Children 18 and under are permitted in the chapel and cafeteria only ...special exception has been made for them to be in the building that day. We've been asked to supervise the children in both areas. Rotational volunteering is needed here.

Entry:  It's best to use the doors that directly access the chapel and not have people enter from the lobby. 

Food: The Kitchen Manager has graciously offered to prepare and serve hot drinks, sandwiches and pastries for most of the day, including the hot chocolate from Discovery Coffee. It would be great if we can get other food donations to help out as well. Does anyone have a special pastry shop that would love to help out with some goods?

Washrooms: in the front lobby; available for our guests. There are separate WCs available for photographers

Volunteers: One Salvation Army volunteer will be working in the cafeteria. They will need volunteers from our group to help out in that area + supervision of children.

Families: I've been mailing and speaking with family service agencies on my list.

So far, we can expect to photograph 200 families, over and above the single people who stop by. That is what the agencies expect, but it's really just an estimated guess. The Salvation Army Family Services will be providing 2,000 families with food hampers this December and they will be telling all the families that come in. That is just one of the family service agencies.

Signs:  We need to post some signs. Who is willing to volunteer to make some 8.5 x 11 directional signs and have them laminated? This is what we need: 

2 x "Residents Only"

1 x "Washrooms" with an Arrow pointing to the right

4 x "No Entry"

2 x "Portraits" with an Arrow pointing to the right

1 x "Portraits" with an Arrow pointing to the left

10 -  8.5" x 14" Help-Portrait + Logo that fill the page (so it's visible from the street) 

 

That's it for now! December 10 is going to be a fun day! :D